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CANADIAN INDUSTRY ONLINE - APRIL 2012
CIO:
What about employment op-
portunities?
VT:
Many people come to Yellow-
knife on a government contract.
Once they’ve completed their con-
tracts, they get multiple job offers
here and there is no reason to go
elsewhere. In the 20 years that I’ve
been here the city has changed
and diversified so much, we have
a Walmart, a Canadian Tire, that
both are major employers, and
recently a Staples was opened.
CIO:
How do you make sure
you
are
attracting
talent?
VT:
There are training programs
in our city for all the jobs that
are needed here including con-
struction, mining related jobs,
and anything related to resources
and exploration. We are of course
branching out and making sure
we have economic diversification.
And we appeal to businesses be-
cause we have a low tax structure.
CIO:
What else does the city do to
increase business development?
VT:
We seek out government
support to maintain infrastruc-
ture and implementing programs
for improving business centres.
CIO:
Yellowknife has multiple offi-
cial languages. What is so special
about the culture in Yellowknife?
VT:
If you have an interest in any-
thing, it’s here. There is no reason
not to be active in the community;
we have everything from hockey to
theatre. In fact, we have probably a
half dozen theatre groups perform-
ing in the city on a regular basis.
People have come here for genera-
tions and many with nothing. But
those generations have come here
and built lives and survived, and
it’s an interesting part of the world.
“MANY PEOPLE COME TO
YELLOWKNIFE ON A
GOVERNMENT
CONTRACT. ONCE
THEY’VE COMPLETED
THEIR CONTRACTS, THEY
GET MULTIPLE JOB
OFFERS HERE AND THERE
IS NO REASON TO GO
ELSEWHERE”
DSTN TRENTON
YELLOWKNIFE